


A Most Unusual Courtship: Perchance to Rest

by elistaire



Series: A Most Unusual Courtship [5]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Azazel's tail is made of awesome, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-19
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-26 03:05:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elistaire/pseuds/elistaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Azazel is exhausted after a long mission, but he's unable to sleep.  The bed is too cold, too empty.  So he teleports to Charles' bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Most Unusual Courtship: Perchance to Rest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liz_mo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liz_mo/gifts).



> Written for a prompt over at fandom_stocking, and it just seemed natural to make this little in-between snippet of a story. 
> 
> I'm still working on the next part in this arc! (Wow, how did I even get an arc going? So cool!)

Azazel could not sleep. 

His bed was cold, and hard. And empty. 

He tossed, then turned, and finally just lay flat, staring into the darkness. For three days, he had been out on a reconnaissance mission for Magneto. He'd caught a few minutes of sleep when it had been necessary, but mainly he'd been awake, relying on his own fortitude to keep vigilant. Now he was overly exhausted, and wired from drinking too strong coffee, and unable to actually sleep. 

He took a deep breath and let it out in a slow stream. He knew what would help, and what he wanted. 

In the blink of an eye, he teleported away from his cold, empty bed and into the warm bed of Charles Xavier. 

By the faintest light of dawn creeping in through the curtain, Azazel could see that Charles' eyelids fluttered, but he didn't open his eyes. Azazel knew he didn't need to--even more asleep than awake, his telepathy would enable him to know threat from fair. "Mmm," Charles said, drowsily, happily, "Azazel." He reached out a hand to drape over Azazel's torso, and snuggled down into his pillow again, eyes still slightly closed. "Missed you."

"And I missed you," Azazel whispered back as he leaned in close. He could smell Charles. It was a combination of faintly soapy cleanness, a whiff of tea, the persistent lingering of aftershave, and the scent of Charles himself. To Azazel, it was comfort itself, and he could feel the tense muscles in his body begin to relax. 

Azazel coiled his tail around Charles' wrist, because it belonged there. Only a scant few weeks ago, the terrible incident had happened wherein Azazel had been forced to teleport Charles to safety in an imminent rush. The sudden teleport had caused Charles to go into shock. Although Azazel was healed from his injuries, he had yet to teleport Charles since. In truth, he was being overly cautious, because he wanted to be sure Charles would not become ill again. 

"Shhh," Charles said, and he rubbed his fingers in a lazy circle on Azazel's side. "Just sleep. No more fretting."

Azazel huffed, but tried to quiet his thoughts. He flexed his tail, feeling Charles' wrist beneath his coil. He ran his fingers through Charles' hair and then to the bare spot behind his ear where there was only soft skin. With one finger, he traced the whorl of Charles' ear. Then he turned his hand over, and brushed his knuckles down the side of Charles' smooth neck. 

Charles sighed and resolutely kept his eyes closed, and after a minute his breathing evened out. For a long time, Azazel lay there next to him, and listened to his rhythmic breath. In and out. 

Little by little, the stress and tension eased. His spine relaxed, his neck became less stiff, and Azazel released the dull edge of mission-activated fortitude.

Finally, Azazel felt the tug of sleep, and with a last brush of his hand down Charles' arm, to tangle his fingers in with Charles', he closed his own eyes. The bed was warm, and soft, and certainly not empty.


End file.
